The USS Somerset(LPD 25),the last of three amphibious transport dock ships named after sites affected by the 9-11 terrorist attacks,was christened on Saturday.Mrs.Mary Jo Myers,wife of General Richard B. Myers,U.S. Air Force retired,former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,performed the naval tradition of breaking a bottle of champagne against the new ship's bow at its official naming.Mrs.Myers' participation suggests the closeness of the Navy and Air Force in this era of the Air-Sea Battle Concept and joint basing.
The ceremony was held at the Avondale shipyard near New Orleans,which is slated to close once the Somerset's final construction is completed.
Somerset County,Pennsylvania was where the passengers of Flight 93 stormed the cockpit in resistance to the terrorists,bringing the plane down in a field there.Twenty-three family members of those who perished in the Somerset County incident attended the christening.The ship includes steel from a crane bucket that was used to recover the Flight 93 wreckage in its bow stem,or leading edge.
The other 9-11 memorial ships are the USS New York(LPD 21) and the USS Arlington(LPD 24).These San Antonio class vessels are for transporting up to 800 U.S. Marines,their equipment and supplies to war zones,unstable regions and humanitarian disaster areas.They have well decks for landing craft and amphibious vehicles,as well as hangars and flight decks for a wide range of helicopters and the Marines' MV-22 Osprey vertical takeoff and landing aircraft.The ships are armed with 2 Mk31 Mod1 RAM launchers;2 Mk46 30mm guns;and 10 .50 caliber machine guns.
Huntington Ingalls Industries built the three memorial ships.Please visit the photo link below this post.
Huntington Ingalls Industries(HII)
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